Argentina slams UK 'imperialism'

Argentina has protested at Britain's decision to name a vast swathe of Antarctica Queen Elizabeth Land.

Published: 03:43, Sat, December 22, 2012

Britain's decision to name a swathe of Antarctica Queen Elizabeth Land has sparked anger in Argentin [PA]

The Foreign Ministry handed a formal protest note to British ambassador John Freeman in Buenos Aires.

The note rejects London's claim since 1908 to a chunk of Antarctic known as the British Antarctic Territory and criticises what Argentina calls Britain's "imperialistic ambitions going back to ancient practices".

Argentina has long claimed as its own the land named after the Queen this week. That area is about a third of the British Antarctic Territory.

Argentina also claims the British territory of the Falkland Islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish.

The two nations fought a brief but bloody war over the South Atlantic archipelago 30 years ago.